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Friday, June 6, 2014

Guanábana and mango smoothie

I’ve been on and off social media, and the internet in
general, for a week now. It wasn’t on purpose, though. I’m still not one of
those people who go through life shunning Facebook only to come crawling back
to it 3 weeks later. I’ve just been busy with other “offline” events well worth
of my complete and undivided attention.

Fun. I went to a
friend’s house-warming party where we celebrated his first home with good food
(and plenty of drinks). He and his partner were great hosts, and they were kind
enough not to kick me out of the party for pigging out on their coconut bread
pudding! The next day, I attended my buddy’s beautiful wedding. I was impressed
by all the love and all the happiness displayed throughout the whole evening by
the family and the guests alike. Since it was a large wedding I didn’t have a
chance to spend much time with my friend and his beautiful bride, but I’m sure
they know I’m ecstatic for their happiness (and because they fed me and gave me
awesome drinks all evening). Cheers! Sad. I went to dinner with my besties
to say goodbye to my friend who’s moving out of state. We will miss her so much!
But I’m not going to lie; I enjoyed saying hello to that $1 burger I had while we
were at it. Someone found a new deal! Disruptive. We have contractors doing
work on the house (and they are very good at starting at 8 am), so we kind of
have to work around them in the morning, and my day goes off-track from there
on. At this phase there’s destruction and dirt everywhere. Hopefully it will be
over soon.

It’s summer too! That keeps me away from spending too much
time with my devices. As you can tell based on my new blog-series “Cleveland’s
my gym”, I’ve been spending time outdoors. Yep, despite the impression given by
the previous paragraph, I’ve done healthy things too. I’m not just pigging out!
I’ve been walking, running and commuting by bike. I’ve even managed to go on one
of my favorite bike routes, a 45-mile ride along Lake Erie! Sadly, the
highlight of this ride is an ice-cream stop half-way, and this time I couldn’t
get my frozen treat!!! Stupid ATM system was down.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter; I make ice creams often. Smoothies
though, are my favorite cold treats. Besides being luscious, smoothies can be a
great tool for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. If you abstain from using
non-natural juices and/or excess sugar, smoothies can be a great way to consume
many nutrients at a low calorie cost. The high volume of the smoothies makes
you feel full, and if you use fruits and dairy, you can stay feeling full for a
while, courtesy of the fiber and the protein (and fat if you use non-skim milk)
in them. They’re quite easy to make, they’re ready in no time, and you can
actually take your smoothies with you on the go.

I don’t think I’ve shared a smoothie recipe so far. It’s surprising
since I’ve been making smoothies for years, and I have more than one blender to
make them. Hell, when I moved to the States the first thing I bought was a
blender. I owned a blender well before I had plates, Tupperware, or a
microwave. So this first smoothie recipe I’ll share feature two of the
ingredients I grew up eating from my own backyard: guanábana (a.k.a. soursop) and
mango. Guanábana can be somewhat sour and tangy (much like yogurt) and mango
can be sweet and a touch acidic. These tropical fruits can be found frozen in
many supermarkets, which is great because when using frozen fruits I can avoid
using ice (I don’t use any on this recipe). Less ice means my flavors won’t be watered
down I won’t have to add too much sugar. This smoothie is just 184 calories per
serving, and it really celebrate the warm weather we are having. Oh, and it
brings a little bit of Puerto Rico to my kitchen.

On the road shortcut

Nutritional info per serving (makes 2 servings):

184 calories, 34 g carbs, 3 g fat, 8 g protein

1 ¼ cup milk, 2% milkfat

½ cup non-fat yogurt

1 tablespoon honey

7 ounces frozen guanábana

7 ounces frozen mango

Optional: If using a glass blender-cup, chill it in the
freezer for 5-10 minutes.

Add all the ingredients and blend until combined and smooth.
Drink immediately.

Alternatively, you can
save your smoothie in an insulated bottle or tumbler and keep it in your fridge
or freezer. The time you can maintain the smoothie’s texture will depend on your
bottle.

5 comments:

I don't know what guanábana is- I've never tried it- but this smoothie certainly looks delicious! YUM! I'll have to see if I can find it at whole foods or a specialty store or something! What a yummy recipe for summer!

Since this was the fruit I probably had the most as a kid, I have the hardest time describing the flavor (I'd say it just tastes like guanábana. Still, Wiki says:"The flavour has been described as a combination of strawberry and pineapple, with sour citrus flavour notes contrasting with an underlying creamy flavour reminiscent of coconut or banana."

I live in Cleveland, and here you can find the nectar and the pulp (which is what I used) in most supermarkets. It may be grouped with other Hispanic products.